Vote in favor of the equal media fee split

As you all know, or should know, each student pays a hefty amount of student fees every semester.

If you look closely at your bill, you might notice that one of those fees is an $11 media fee. This particular constitutes a large portion of both The Northern Light’s and KRUA’s yearly budget.

There is one problem, however. The fee is split and distributed unevenly, with The Northern Light receiving $5.75 and KRUA receiving $5.25.

Does this seem a little lopsided to you? Because it looks lopsided to us – us being The Northern Light and KRUA. Well, this year both organizations are making an effort to change the distribution of that fee, we are seeking to instate an equal split.

But, in order to make this happen, we need your help. On the elections ballot in November, there will be a proposal that outlines the proposed change in the distribution of funds; and we need you, the students, to vote in favor of the proposition.

It is important to realize that this is not an increase, the media fee will remain at $11 if this proposal is passed by the student body, it will only equalize the funding that TNL and KRUA receives from the fee.

A $.25 change really does not seem like a whole lot, but, in actuality, it would total up to approximately $6,400 annually if the projected enrollments hold true. In a student organization, $6,400 is quite a large chunk of change and can go a very long way toward the betterment of the organization.

The reason that the fee was originally split the way it is, is because printing the paper costs a lot of money, and that extra couple of quarters was meant to offset that cost. It’s true, printing does cost quite a bit; this year printing costs have been projected at $41,935.

Printing costs have gone down, however. So, that influx of cash is no longer needed for The Northern Light to make ends meet.

On the other hand, KRUA’s costs have gone up substantially since this fee was first introduced. Almost everything that goes on at a radio station is dependent on technology to some extent, and I think we can all sympathize, knowing that technology is expensive – especially the specialized and very technical equipment that is needed at KRUA.

Bringing it back to the issue of voting; we need your vote on this issue. The approval of this fee would pave the way for the betterment of student media on campus as a whole.

If passed, the new split in funds would likely begin in the Fall 2011 semester, and though it may not directly affect all of us involved in student media now, it will have an indisputably positive effect on the future of student media at UAA.

So, this is our plea; please vote in favor of this proposal in November.